Let us begin with a basic definition of what we mean by "Driver Risk" as it relates to Driver Risk Management within the transportation industry; Driver risk, are those factors that could adversely influence or hinder the safe operation and efficient transportation services performed by the driver for their company. Some aspects are intrinsic to the transport process permitting little marginal gains in those areas. For example should a driver fail to stop at a red light and strike your drivers vehicle little could have been done as that was not in any way a failure of your driver.

Others aspects however are the direct result of driving behaviors or choices made by the driver of the vehicle and these are targeted to provide substantial gains in reduction in risk that can affect many other driver related activities.

Far too often I turn on the TV, I see news reports of undisciplined, unprofessional drivers causing accidents, while sending text messages on their cell phones or Blackberries, when they should be concentrating on driving their vehicles. This form of Driver Risk is a direct result of dangerous driver behavior and poor choices both of which in many cases are 100% preventable if the driver learns to recognizes the dangers and agrees not to do these distracting things while driving company vehicles.

Why Must We Manage Fleet Driver Risk?Unmanaged Fleet Driver Risk can cause massive realized losses with unnecessary liability in a otherwise healthy and thriving company. Excessive or unmanaged Fleet Driver Risk can have negative or damaging effects in the following areas:

Driver Personal Safety

Public Image,

Logo or Company Name

Company Asset Loss

Accidental Property Damage

Unauthorized Use of Company Assets

Insurance Costs

Waste of Company Fuel

Personal Injury or Death

Liability Perishables & Timely Deliveries

The reason the effects or influences on the driver are important and must be managed, is due in part, the the fact they can all affect the drivers ability to perform their primary objective of safe and efficient transport service for the company employing them. Adverse influences though they me be singularly minor in nature can often combine and compound to form a more formidable obstacle to the driver when problems arise. Training and driver education are a excellent start to teaching them policy, procedure, situational awareness and how to handle many unforeseen circumstances others may have experienced at one time.

Introduction To Driver Risk ManagementThere are a plethora of professionals permeating the transportation markets offering a cornucopia or techniques and programs designed to reduce the problems associated with Fleet Driver Risk Management. As a fellow traveler on the highways of this land of the free and home of the brave, I value and appreciate their considerable efforts and goals to make it safer to coexist on the roads, knowing those driving commercial heavy duty trucks along side my Xterra are professional drivers and no threat to others sharing the roads. I have no doubt that in many cases the high fees they charge and the time they invest enhancing driver education and procedure is in demand due to the fact so many fleets are paying so much money for their services. I respect any person willing to work to earn a living that those of us who do work and pay high taxes, do not need to support.

A Brief listing of some of their efforts in programs or concerns include following:

Fleet Driver Risk Assessment Tutorials

Fleet Driver Risk Profiling

Fleet Driver Awareness Programs

Cognitive ReasoningThreat Identification

Occupational Road Risk Courses

Fleet Driver Background Checks

Hazard Perception Workshop

Advanced Driver Theory

DMV Alert NotificationVirtual Drive Simulated Training

Fleet Driver Impairment Training

Defensive Driving Theory

Understanding Accident Avoidance

Safe Driver Theory Workshop

Driver Posture Enhancement

While I have no doubts that all of the above programs can have a positive impact on driver safety and thus lower driver risk in the long term, I believe these programs may suffer systemic problems based on their implementation due in large part to the fact they are all passive. For example most programs involve varying degrees of the following:

While the programs and training methods may be well developed, thought out and taught at a high level as are most education programs, it is assumed in large part that those being taught these programs have an interest in learning these new ways to become safety and fuel conservative, and this is where I believe a huge false assumption is being made.

Permit me to preface the following with a brief disclaimer:While I believe most fleet drivers are professionals, take their job and driving very seriously they are not perfect and normal Fleet Driver Training programs will help them to become better at what they do.

Having said that there are a small percent of lazy, apathetic, disgruntled, or angry drivers in the fleet markets that amount for much of the conscious chaos, problems related to driver safety, loss prevention, accidents and this small percentage of problem drivers is what the following addresses.

A Few Bad Apples In The FleetSince my introduction to driver Fleet Management Systems in the early 1980s, the single most notable realization I have made is that drivers can be the most expensive and hard to regulate variable in the Fleet Management industry, and unfortunately they often have the highest liability risk of any employee in the company or district.

I have seen first hand the extreme efforts of drivers to undermine their managements best efforts to regulate their own vehicle use in a safe and efficient manor. I have heard the hateful comments, slander, vitriol and threats made about their supervisors and management, in spite of the fact they owe their jobs, income and possibly health benefits to these they demean and hold in such disdain. The level of animosity and ungratefulness demonstrated by this small percentage of drivers is truly stunning, in light of the fact they would have nothing to fear if they did as they were trained to do and followed company policy. I have seen first hand the complete disregard some drivers have exhibited to any efforts to get them to follow company driver safety policy and procedure. The "Take this job and shove it" song is often sung by those who might be the reason we are installing systems in the first place. I have been assaulted and threatened dozens of times by those who fear that any attempt by management to know what they are doing when they are in the company vehicle is a clear and present danger to their reputation and continued employment. While I am not a specialist in Psychology, it is my novice opinion they may fear any management oversight because they may be doing something that they do not want known, and that would concern me if they were covered under my insurance policy. I have personally had drivers boast to me while we were performing installations of Fleet Management equipment that they already knew how to defeat the systems we were installing. I have seen no less than 100 different ways to tamper, destroy, defeat mechanical recording systems, and about half as many attempts at defeating the digital systems that replaced them. Hundreds of times drivers who viewed these devices as a threat, told us in no uncertain terms that they did not care what we installed it was a waste of the companies money as they would just trash it when we left.

These small percentage of fleet drivers are the ones that in my opinion no amount of training will help, because training reinforces subconscious decisions and because as soon as they get alone in their company vehicle all that training is consciously disregarded for whatever reason and they are back to doing things their way. These drivers present a high concentration of the Driver Risk necessary to target, as they may be the biggest threat to fleet safety and may also be the ones exposing the company or district they drive for to excessive liability due to accident or litigation as they simply are not on the same driver safety/fuel conservation page as the rest of the drivers in the fleet.

Us old timers in the Fleet Management markets had various devices to offer a aid in managing driver risk but again these were too basic and rudimentary to affect any aspect of modern Driver Risk Management, as they were all passive.

Driver Risk Management Devices In The Past

There has been at least 4 decades of devices aimed at basic levels of driver management in the company owned vehicles they operate. Some attempts have been workable for their limited applications and limited data collection, while others tell more about accidents and their immediate cause or aftermath much like a flight recorder for a plane. The main design they all share is their are passive in operation and simply record what the vehicle does and not what may be affecting he driver of that vehicle. The brief history of the driver management systems is listed below broken down into the technologies that were used to monitor vehicle/driver performance.

Shakers"Shakers" have been used for 40 years to log, document driver drive and stop times while they are on the road. Starting with the chart loggers like the first Service Recorders (shakers) that monitored time driving and time not driving, these systems performed basic chart time clock functions. Most had simply weighted shakers with styli scratching round paper disks scratching motion marks corresponding the time on the clock turned chart. Very simple, very reliable and durable, some are still in use today.

Tachographs"Tachographs" have been used for 30 years to log, document and track driver activities and duties while they are on the road. The technology soon stepped up from the basic shakers to the ability to monitor speed and RPMs with the Sangamo/Abbott series of recorders. Then it was the German invasion of the Keinzle product in the USA, they added precision-engineered mechanical recorders capable of recording 3 events, speed, distance and RPM all extremely accurate although a bit high in cost.Black BoxesOnce the digital age dawned onto the fleet management market, it was the turn of the transistor to rule this dominion with digital reliability and software that permitted the integration so fleet reporting and cross fleet databases. These devices now offer active vehicle tracking, 2-way messaging, voice and data downloading that can often be integrated with 3rd party software to perform inventory, purchasing and invoicing functions. These devices were often called "Boss in a box" , "Tattletale", "Drivers Leash", "On board Boss", "Management in a can" as they provided some degree of management oversight in the often unmanageable transportation industry.

Mobile Video Cameras"Mobile Video Cameras", record everything that goes on in the passenger compartment of a transportation vehicle. The best examples are school bus video systems that record what the children do in the bus. These system have a few driver risk management aspects built in as they document when the stop arm is out, when the vehicle is braking and some record vehicle speed with GPS options. They usually have 1 or 2 cameras, a small DVR, some may offer optional GPS for speed and mapping, most have audio. These are simple devices used to limit liability and modify the behavior of the children that ride the buses. Second to school buses are the taxi cabs running these videos on them for a similar reason. Of all the job occupations the one with the highest incidence of assault and murder is taxi driving. These systems have a few driver risk management aspects built in as they document the driver in some cases, when the vehicle is braking and some record vehicle speed with GPS options. They usually have 1 or 2 cameras, a small DVR, some may offer optional GPS for speed and mapping, most have audio. These are simple devices used to limit liability and modify the behavior of the people that ride in the taxi.

Accident Cameras"Accident Cameras", record the last few seconds prior to an accident a few seconds after the accident. They are small and some are very inexpensive although some can exceed the $1,200.00 range. They usually have 1 or 2 cameras, a small DVR incorporate "G" sensors to trigger the accident event, some may incorporate GPS for speed and mapping, some even have audio so you can hear what happened a few seconds before and after the accident. It is understood these are simply there to show what happened during the accident and offer some level of accident analysis after the fact.

Driver Risk Management Solutions In The Present

Active Mobile Video

Active Mobile Video systems (AMV), a new innovative integration of technologies adapted to benefit those companies, districts and municipalities operating large fleets of vehicles. An Active Mobile Video system is an active and verifiable mechanism that can actively encourage borderline drivers to be much safer, less wasteful of the fuel they could be saving, more conscious of their driving behaviors and a long term asset to their company, district or municipality. With the support and oversight of management, most drivers who exhibit dangerous or apathetic driving behaviors can be polished by sufficient education and AMV reminders to the best interest of safe driving with fuel conservation in mind.

Active Driver Training Devices are currently available that have:The ability to detect Cell Phone Texting by drivers of fleet vehicles.The ability to immediately notify CMS Operator or Dispatch the driver is Driving While Texting. The ability to send screen shot & video clip of the incident to Supervisors via PDA, Blackberry & cell phone. The ability to help prevent 5,500 deaths per year and 300,000+ injuries due to Driving While texting. The ability to help insure and enforce Federal mandate compliance for Driving While Texting restriction for commercial fleet drivers. The ability of management to remind the driver to drive in a safe manor. The ability to remind the driver his company wants him to conserve fuel and save the company money. The ability to remind the driver his company wants him to conserve fuel to reduce air pollution. The ability of management to remind the driver not to run over speed bumps at a high speed damaging the vehicle and cargo. The ability of management to remind the driver not to run over curbs at a high speed damaging the tires. The ability of management to remind the drivers not to exceed the maximum speed limits. The ability of management to remind the driver not to take turns so fast the vehicle may lose control or roll over.

Insurance Incentive to Reduce Liability RiskThere are insurance companies who have just started a test program offering incentives to their insured fleet owners amounting to 25% off of that vehicles current annual premium when the Fleet Driver Risk Management devices are purchased and used by those fleets. The caveat for this large premium discount for that year of the purchase is that the insurance provider is provided video files for each accident claim made by that company.

Fleet owners get a device that can help them:Save up to 25% in wasted fuel, Document dangerous driving behavior that often leads to accidents, Offer drivers active driver alerts when they drive in an dangerous manor, Get a reduction of up to 25% from their insurance provider to cover that first year purchase.

Insurance providers get access to documented video evidence: to use in court in defending their insured fleets in cases of:

Insurance fraud by drivers, who may be staging accidents to win settlement claims, Document number of occupants involved in accident in other vehicle Admission of guilt by non insured parties that may have caused or contributed to accident(Verbal admissions to your insured drivers are common in the immediate aftermath of an accident). Identify who was actually in the vehicle when it was involved in an accident. (Verify that the persons appearing in court are the same persons named in the police report)Verify the impact “G” force of the accident in minor bumps that are later greatly exaggerated.

This will be the start of active Driver Training Devices that will enable management to actively remind drivers of company policy, enforce violations and provide digital video/audio/GPS/G Sensor data to back it up. The future of Driver Risk Management Solutions just got brighter.